The Burned Tower
by Volcarona
Summary: When Lyra goes into the Burned Tower to escape her crazed fans, someone follows her in. MortyxLyra. One-shot.


The Burned Tower was dark and ominous, broken and damaged floorboards creaking as I walked carefully across them. I had succeeded in my goal, collecting all eight of Johto's badges and defeating the Elite Four in record time, and now I was the Champion. I was famous, like I'd always wanted to be, but now I found it…exhausting. I was rarely alone, as everyone wanted to meet the Johto League Champion. The only places I could find solitude these days were places like this: old and decrepit, unsafe places where few people traveled.

Behind me, my Haunter grins and fades into the shadows. Disembodied laughter echoes throughout the room, and I smile: Nyx loves gloomy places like this.

I hear a sound behind me, the groan of an old floorboard. I turn and see a figure in the darkness. Oh, no; someone's followed me in here! Well, maybe they haven't seen me yet. Maybe I can sneak away.

I take a few more steps, though I can barely see where I'm going, and the murky figure follows me. I've been stuck in a crowd of people for weeks now—all I want is some piece and solitude! Throwing caution to the wind, I begin running across the scorched floor, toward where I seem to remember there being stairs, or a ladder, or something. Whoever it is follows me, shouting, "Hey, be careful! These wooden floors are dangerous!"

I know that voice, don't I? I am about to face them, to demand who they are and why they are chasing me around the Burned Tower, when something below me snaps, and I find myself tumbling down into open air. A rough scream scrapes through my throat, and my fingers claw at a plank of wood. I'm slipping.

"Hey are you alright?" the voice calls, and I hear the footsteps approach, hurried but careful, like I should have been.

Nyx appears beside me, and she tries to pull me up through the floor, but she's too insubstantial. She's a Ghost, after all, and can't touch physical things.

The air above me darkens, and I see that the familiar stranger is kneeling down at the hole in the floor. "It's alright, I'll help you. Just grab my hand." He leans down, and I shift my weight to grasp his hand. He grunts a bit with the effort, but he manages to pull me up.

I climb up onto the broken floor and sit, breathing heavily as the adrenaline wears off, and Nyx hovers above me chattering concernedly. "I'm okay, Nyx," I say.

It's quiet for a moment, before my rescuers says, "You always were so brash, Lyra," he comments, chuckling a little.

I laugh, too, and I realize who this man is. "Morty!" I cry, and Nyx cackles.

He calms down, and his voice takes on a more serious tone. "Why did you run?" he asks.

"I thought you were a crazed fan chasing me down for my autograph."

He chuckles again. "The fame's getting to you, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I mean, one of the reasons that I'd always wanted to be the Johto Champion was because I wanted to be famous, but, now…I can't get away from people. They're everywhere, and…the only places I can get away are places like this. Places where people don't normally go." She looked at him, though she could barely make out his features in the darkness. "Well, except for people like you; the crazy ones, the ones obsessed with old legends."

"Hey, I'm not obsessed. If you want obsessed, you should go hang out with Eusine."

"But I'd much rather be here with you, Morty." She felt herself blush—what on Earth had possessed me to say that?

It's quiet for a moment, and Nyx settles into my hair, like she usually does when I get nervous. Then Morty says, quietly, "I saw you pass by earlier, so I closed the Gym and followed you here."

"Why?"

"I…because I wanted to see you again. After our Gym battle two years ago, I'd wanted to tell you…how I felt about you. But you were so young, only fourteen, and you had all these big dreams...I didn't want to distract you from those. But now…"

"Now what?" I whisper, leaning closer to him. "I'm sixteen now, and you're twenty. I've achieved my goals and now I want to move on to something else. Morty, is there something you want to tell me?"

In response, he breaches the gap between us and presses his lips to mine. I kiss him back, wrapping my arms around his neck and gripping the scarf he always wears. Above us, Nyx laughs again before fading away to give us privacy.

When we break apart, Morty puts his arms around me and pulls me into a hug. "I love you, Lyra," he whispers in my ear. "I've loved you since the day you stomped me in our battle."

"I love you, too, Morty. I'm _your_ biggest, craziest fan."

"Would you like my autograph?" he teases, and he kisses me again.


End file.
